Common medical syringes are well known and have been used for many years both to inject fluids into a body and to withdraw fluids from a body. A typical syringe comprises a cylindrical syringe body having a needle receiving end and a plunger slidably disposed within the body to control the discharge or withdrawal of fluid therefrom. In order to accurately monitor the withdrawal and discharge of fluid from the syringe body, a volumetric scale is imprinted on one side of the syringe body. The needle receiving end is adapted to mate with a hypodermic needle assembly, the needle assembly typically comprising a hub adapted to engage the syringe needle receiving end, and a hypodermic needle having a beveled tip.
The syringe comes in a sterile holder and the needle assembly is provided for separately, and comes with a color-coded cap over the needle and a clear cap over the hub. These caps keep the needle sterile, with the color-coded needle cup further providing a means to determine the gauge size of the needle (e.g. pink=20 gauge, blue=22 gauge, and white=16 gauge). Thus, the assembly procedure is to remove the syringe from its holder, choose the proper gauge needle, and pull the clear cap off of the hub, and then connect the hub to the syringe. It is preferred that the colored-cap remain on the needle during assembly in order to prevent harmful contact and to insure the needle remains sterile.
When inserting the needle into a vein, it is inserted with the bevel side up. Often times when anesthetizing an animal or a patient, the syringe has more drug than necessary, so you only want to give to effect, that is, until the animal is sleeping. This dosage varies depending on, among other things, the size of the animal and the strength of the drug. Thus, you must carefully monitor how much drug is administered, since overdose is dangerous. Generally, the drug is given in 0.1 cc increments. In order to monitor this rate, it is preferred that the volumetric scale imprinted on the syringe is facing up. Similarly, when taking blood from a patient, only a certain amount is required, e.g. for blood tests about 1.0 cc, so again, it is preferred to have the volumetric scale facing up.
Normally, the needle is inserted into the body of the animal/patient with the bevel side up. However, in order to allow the volumetric scale on the syringe body to face up, it must be aligned with the bevel on the needle. Presently, this task is both difficult and time consuming because the bevel on the needle cannot be seen through the colored cap. In order to prealign the bevel of the needle with the imprinted scale on the syringe body, the colored cap may have to be removed and replaced repeatedly during adjustment, exposing it to a less sterile environment and increasing the likelihood of potentially hazardous contact with the doctor, nurse, or caregiver. Moreover, in emergency situations, the syringe and needle assembly must be connected as quickly as possible. Thus, there is a need to be able to align the beveled tip of the needle with the imprinted scale on the syringe body.
Heretofore, no method or means has been provided to quickly and easily align the beveled tip of the needle with the volumetric scale on the syringe body, Thus, the tedious and potentially dangerous process of repeatedly removing the color coded cap to check alignment, replacing the cap and adjusting the needle is required.